Advances in pearl millet fodder yield and quality improvement through Breeding and management practices
AMIT KUMAR*, R. K. ARYA1, SUNIL KUMAR2, DHARMENDER KUMAR3, SURESH KUMAR1 AND Ravish Panchta4
Department of Biochemistry,
KurukshetraUniversity,
Kurukshetra (Haryana), India
*(e-mail : amitgothwal@gmail.com)
(Received : 10 January, 2013, Accepted : 25 March, 2013)
SUMMARY
Pearl millet is quick growing cereal as compared to maize and sorghum and it produces green fodder in short duration. It is a robust quick growing rainy season grass with large number of tillers, leaves and ear heads. Being tall vigorous with exceptional fodder yielding potential, it is indispensable fodder for the animals inhabitants in arid and semi-arid regions of world. Therefore, the development of quality fodder cultivars and management to meet out the fodder requirement for ever increasing livestock population is imperative, as the quality of the fodder is very important issue with respect to the livestock health status as well as to maximize the animal production of milk and meat. An effort has been made to review the progress done so far towards the development and production of quality fodder of pearl millet. The morphological traits, growth parameters, fodder yield and nutritional quality traits, along with toxic components have been discussed in this review.
Key words : fodder yield, fodder quality, contributing traits, pearl millet